Turnatable game with magnetic tippable game pieces



a PIECES M. MURAOKA TURNTABLE GAME WITH MAGNETIC TIPPABL'E GAM FiledSept. 5, 1967 Z'SheetS-Sheet l INVENTOR. MASAO MURAOKA ATTORNEY? Oct. 7,1969 MURAOKA 3,471,152

TURNTABLE GAME WITH MAGNETIC TIPPABLE GAME PIECES Filed Sept. 5. 1967 '2Sheets-Sheet 2 FI GJ Z.

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ATTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl. 273-86 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The invention comprises a game, the play pieces of which aremoved by magnetic means. A turntable is provided mounting a radialmember extending outwardly therefrom and which member carries one ormore tippable tubes seating play pieces and normally maintained in avertical position. Trays or drawers beneath the turntable contain fixedvertical tubes which are so related to the tippable tubes as to have thetippable tubes and the fixed tubes brought into alignment as theturntable rotates. Bar magnets, not identified as to polarity, areplaced in the fixed and tippable tubes so that as the turntable rotates,certain of the bar magnets may be of a polarity like that of the barmagnets in the fixed tubes of the trays as well as certain bar magnetshaving unlike polarity in said trays. Tipping occurs when the magnetshave the same polarity and in end to end relationship and no tippingwill occur when the magnet ends are of opposite polarity.

An object of the invention is the provision of a game wherein playpieces are moved by magnetic means.

A further object is the provision of a game wherein objects are moved ina circular path representative of a race track by a turntable andwherein as the turntable rotates certain of the play pieces will bedislodged from the turntable while other play pieces will be retainedfor movement with the turntable.

A further object is the provision of a game wherein a turntable carriesvarious play pieces in a given path as the turntable rotates, the playpieces being dislodged from the turntable and moved out of play by theemployment of magnets in which the polarity of said magnets is unknownto the player with the result that certain of the play pieces aremaintained in play while the turntable makes a complete rovolution whileother of said play pieces are dislodged and fall from the turntable outof play.

As is well known, bar magnets exert a mutual attraction therebetweenwhen the polarity of the ends are opposite and a repulsion when the endsare of the same polarity. Use of this principal is employed in thepresent invention.

A further object is the provision of a game employing magnets which isamusing to both young and old, provides many game situations,interesting entertainment, and is inexpensive in cost.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel and useful provision, formation, construction, association andrelative arrangement of parts, members and features, all as shown in oneembodiment in the accompanying drawings, described generally and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a partially sectional, top plan view of the game shown as anentirety;

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on theline 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary, partially sectional plan view on an enlargedscale looking in the direction of arrow 3 of FIGURE 4;

3,471,152 Patented Oct. 7, 1969 FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary,cross sectional view on the line 44 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional View on the line 55 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, taken on the line 66of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a drawer used in the practice of thepresent invention;

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of a tippable tube for a play piece;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of a support for the tippable tube ofFIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of a further form of support for thetippable tube shown in FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of means adaptedto block tipping of a tippable tube of the type shown in FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 12 is a perspective view of one form of the play piece;

FIGURE 13 is a perspective view of a bar magnet of the type employed inthe present invention;

FIGURE 14 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of a tube of the type ofFIGURE 8 housing a magnet and supporting a play piece of the type shownin FIGURE 12, the device of FIGURE 11 blocking the tipping of the tubeas the tube carrying the play piece passes over a magnet positionedbeneath the turntable;

FIGURE 15 shows movement of the turntable relative to the magnet beneaththe turntable, the device for blocking tipping of the tube beinglowered;

FIGURE 16 shows further movement of the turntable the play piece beingdislodged from the tippable tube;

FIGURE 17 is a plan view of various elements which are employed inplaying the game; and,

FIGURE 18 is a perspective view of a further form of play piecerepresentative of a tank.

Referring to the drawings, the invention in its present embodimentincludes a base plate 1 which in the present instance is square sidedalthough other geometrical forms may be employed. A raised flat annulus2 is secured centrally to the base plate by feet 3. A disk typeturntable 4 is coaxial with the fiat annulus 2 and interposed betweenthe platform and the annulus 2 is anti-friction means 5, in the form ofrollers held by journal means comprising a disk 6 provided with holesthrough which a portion of the periphery of the balls extends and by aseries of members 7 provided with holes, which members are secured tothe disk 6. Thus segments of the balls project beyond disk 6 and themembers 7, as shown in FIGURE 2. Such a construction allows the balls tocontact the turntable disk 4 and the annulus 2. To maintain the co-axialrelationship of the members aforesaid, a stud shaft 8 is secured to thebase plate 1 and extends upwardly therefrom through the annulus 2, theanti-friction means and through a central opening in the turntable. Thisconstruction permits ready separation of the parts just described.Secured to the turntable disk 4 is a rectangular table 10, thelongitudinal center of which intersects the axis of the turntable, endsof the table extending outwardly beyond the rim of the turntable 4 toprovide space for play pieces, and other mechanism. The table 10 isadapted to be revolved either manually or by the use of a motor and inthe present instance a small electric motor 12 is employed for thispurpose as will hereinafter be set forth. Extending in radialrelationship to the turntable, and carried by the base plate are fourequidistantly spaced apart, or apart, non-magnetic casings 15, 16, 17and 18. Thus casings 15 and 17 are in alignment as are casings 16 and18. These casings are of a length such that the inner ends thereofterminate adjacent the turntable 4. The casings in each instance areadapted to receive drawers of the type shown in FIGURE 7 and designatedas 19. All drawers are of like construction and provided with tubularcompartments 20. The number of compartments will depend upon the lengthof the drawer and in the present instance there are seven separated,vertically mounted compartments within each drawer. These compartmentsare all numbered as shown at 21. The number of compartments will dependin each instance upon the number of play pieces, and the number of playpieces in turn will depend upon the length of the rectangular table 10.Thus, in the present instance, as stated, there are seven tubularcompartments extending the depth of the drawer and these compartmentsare formed of non-magnetic material as is likewise each drawer. As thebase plate is flat, the drawers may be drawn from the outer ends of eachcasing 15 to 18 inclusive, as shown in FIGURE 1 at 25. This exposes theupper ends of the tubular compartments which are open for accessthereto.

Mounted upon the rectangular table are trippable supports for the playpieces, the play pieces being so placed upon the table that duringrotation of the turntable the supports move in concentric circles overthe compartments in the drawers. Each tippable support constitutes anassembly as illustrated in FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 and designated as 30 and31. The support 30 is placed near the rear edge 32 of the table whilesupport 31 is placed on the table adjacent its leading edge at 33. Inthe present instance there are four supports 31 and three supports 30,the supports being staggered. Support 31 has a base 34 secured by rivetsor the like to the top of the table 10 and which base has an uprightmember 35 having two extended side arms 36 and 37 which project upwardlyat right angles to upright 35. The side arms are provided with alignedholes at 38 and 39. The support 30 comprises an upright 40 having a pairof upstanding parallel arms 41 and 42, and perforated feet or lugs 43and 44. The arms are provided with aligned bores 45 and 46, and theperforated feet or lugs 43 and 44 are secured by rivets or otherwise tothe table. The uprights of either form 30 or 31 each support between thearms thereof a tippable play piece support designated generally as 50.The tippable support is of tubular form and in the present instance issquare sectioned and closed at its lower end 51 and open at its top 52,opposite sides 53 and 54 being sheared from the top to provide a pair ofaligned trunnions 55 and 56, the trunnions adapted to be fitted in thealigned holes 45 and 46 in one instance and 38 and 39 in a secondinstance of the supports 30 and 31. The arrangement is such that thelower ends of the tubes 50 terminate above the base of said support ineach instance so that the tubes may tip in one direction, that is, tipaway from the support portions 35 and 40. Each tippable tube standsvertically above the table 1 and when the turntable is rotated, eachsupport 30' and 31 with its tippable tube 50 follows a circular path ofdifferent radius from the innermost tube to the outermost thereof, thearrangement being such that when the drawers are within the casingsshown at to 18 inclusive, the lower end of each tippable tube will passover each compartment tube, the compartment tubes lying upon thecircular paths covered by the tippable tubes. In other words, as shownin the figures, for instance FIGURES 1 and 7, a tippable tube 50 willpass over a compartment tube within the drawer 19.

A play piece 60 in one instance may be representative of a horse and itsrider, as shown in FIGURE 12, or it may be in simulation of an armytank, as shown in FIG- URE 18. Each play piece is numbered to correspondto the number of tippable tubes used in playing the game and,consequently, there are in the present instance, seven play pieces. Inthe case of a simulated horse and rider, a small lug is provided foreach form of play piece as shown at 61 for reception within the upperend of a tippable tube and to hold the play piece in position. The playpiece is stabilized in that each tippable tube at its upper end isprovided with a bracket 62, the upper surface of which carries theplaying number of said tube, as shown in FIGURE 3 wherein the numbersare 4 and 5. The play piece 60 has a flat base 63, so that the base whencarried on the top of a tippable tube overlies the bracket and itsnumber. As the device is operated by magnetic means to either maintainthe play piece in position on a tippable tube or to be dislodgedtherefrom, means 64 is provided to initially hold the tippable tubeagainst any tendency to dislodge the play piece. This means is shown inFIGURE 11 and constitutes a lever or arm 70 pinned at 71 to a supportmember 72, the lower edge of said lever being inclined at 73 to providea cam edge, the lever being provided with an arm 74 at a right angle toarm 70. There is one of these devices for each tippable tube and in thepresent instance, seven thereof. The members 72 are fastened, in eachinstance, to the table 10 in such position that the arms 74 may engage atippable tube, as shown in FIGURE 3. The lever 70 extends through a slotin the table, as illustrated at 75 and 76 in FIGURE 3. Thus, the arm 70may drop through said slot of the table and assume the position shown inboth FIGURES 15 and 16 or be raised as shown in FIGURE 14 so that thearm 74 engages a tippable tube to prevent tipping thereof duringrotation of the turntable, as hereinafter described.

The turntable is adapted to be rotated, as previously stated, eithermanually or by a motor such as 12, the motor driving a train of gearsshown in FIGURE 6, the train of gears being designated generally as 80and the gears turn an axle 81 mounting a wheel 82. This wheel is adaptedto travel on a circular trackway 83 having four arcuate parts, which maybe quadrants, each quadrant being interposed between the casings 15, 16,17 and 18, the quadrants =all lying in the same plane, the top surfacesof which are substantially on the level with the top surfaces of thecasings. The wheel 82 travels on this trackway as the motor 12 isenergized and in the present instance the motor is driven by a battery84 controlled by a switch 85. Upon closing the switch the batteryenergizes the motor and through the train of gears slowly turns theturntable 4. As the table 10 turns the cam edge 73 of the lever 70contacts a casing such as 15, see FIGURES l4, l5 and 16, to raise thesame from the position shown in FIGURE 15 to that of FIGURE 14 whichprevents a tipping of the tippable tube 50 until the cam edge of thelever escapes from travel over the casing whereupon it drops to theposition of FIGURE 15 and allows the tube 50 to be tipped, as shown inFIGURE 16. Tipping of the tube will dislodge the play piece from theposition of FIGURE 15, the play piece moving upon a slide or chute 86,which extends from the support of the type shown at 31 to the level ofthe table 10. This will cause the play piece to be received upon thebase plate 1. A play piece carried by the tippable tube adjacent therear edge of the table will be directly dislodged onto the base plate 1.

To play the game, magnetic means is employed, the magnetic meanscomprises bar magnets of the type shown in FIGURE 13 and the bar magnetsare not identified as to poles. The bar magnet shown in FIGURE 15 may benorth for the upper end and south for the lower end or vice versa, thepoles not being identified, and the same is true for other bar magnetsadapted to be placed within the tubular compartments in each drawer, asshown in FIGURE 7. Hence, to begin with, the person conducting the gamewill place magnets within one or more compartments of each drawer, orwill not place any bar magnets therein. The same procedure will befollowed in the placing of the bar magnets within each of the tippabletubes, or certain of the tubes may be without bar magnets. Thus, withthe players in position and at a starting point, the numbered playpieces such as simulated horses and jockeys will be positioned on thetops of the tippable tubes which are numbered. Assuming that the northpole of the bar magnet in the tippable tube is adjacent the play pieceas shown in FIGURE 14, and that the bar magnet over which the tippabletube is passed placed in the compartment tube of a drawer, as theturntable rotates, the

lever 70 is brought into position to prevent tipping of the tube and asthe tube passes over the bar magnet in the compartment tube of a drawer,the south pole is naturally attracted by a north pole of the bar magnetin the drawer, and as a consequence, the play piece is not dislodgedfrom its position on the upper end of the tippable tube. However, if thebar magnet has its north pole positioned as shown in FIGURE 16, as likepoles repel, movement of the tippable tube over the bar magnet in thedrawer will tip the tippable tube and in so doing dislodge the playpiece as shown. As the dealer may or may not know the polarity of thedifferent bar magnets, the game becomes of interest due to theuncertainty of dislodgement of the play pieces due to the positions ofthe magnets within the compartment of the drawer and within the tippabletubes.

The operation, uses and advantages of the invention are as follows.

It will be noted upon reference to FIGURE 1 that the base plate isprovided with four shallow trays designated generally as 100 at eachcorner thereof. These trays are preferably of different colors such asred, blue, yellow and green. In addition, there are blocks designatedgenerally as 101 adjacent each tray and provided with holes 102, theadjacent blocks being colored the same as the trays. The purpose of eachtray is to hold chips which may be numbered by way of example as shownin FIG- URE 17 by the numbers 1 and 5. Cards 103 are colored the samecolors as the blocks 101 and the trays 100, and indicates the particularjockey and horse selected by one of the players, which number wouldcorrespond to the number of a tubular compartment in the drawer 19 asshown in FIGURE 7, and, likewise, correspond to a number on one of thetippable support tubes 50. Thus if the player having chips in a bluetray selects play piece 7, he puts blue card 103 numbered 7 adjacent thetray. The horse and the jockey, is numbered in the manner shown inFIGURE 4. Hence, if the play piece is numbered, for instance 2, the playpiece with its tippable tube likewise numbered 2 would, when theturntable is rotating, follow a circular path and pass over thedifferent drawers and particularly the compartments within said drawerslikewise numbered 2. Assuming that bar magnets are placed by the dealerin the drawer compartments in a certain relationship to the bar magnetsplaced in the tippable tubes 50, the play piece may be retained inposition or dislodged from the tippable tube as illustrated in FIGURE16. Accordingly, the chips which are played on a given horse and itsjockey will depend on whether or not a given play piece completes onerevolution without being dislodged or in certain instances how manyobstructions are passed, the obstructions being the different casings 15to 18 inclusive without the play piece being thrown from the tippabletube support. Thus the players of the game of whom there may be four inthe present instance, may place chips on any horse of their selection towin, to place, etc., and the chips in the trays and the number thereofare placed on a play piece in accordance with the individual playersselection. It is intended that each dealer should arrange the positionof the magnets within the different compartment tubes of the drawers andin the tippable tubes, and then by means of a wire or reed 105, depressthe switch 85 to cause the electric motor to drive the train of gearsand rotate the turntable. The flag in FIGURE 17 is placed within theopening 102 of a block 101 in accordance with the selected dealer. Theblock selected will indicate starting and finishing position of therace. It is believed that the action of the bar magnets placed in thetippable tubes and in the compartment tubes of the drawer has beenexplained sufiiciently in the specification, and, accordingly, suchoperation will not be repeated here.

I claim:

1. A racing game board, including: a base plate, a turntable mounted forrotation on said base plate, a series of tubes, means tippably mountingsaid tubes on said turntable and in spaced relation to one another forrotation of said tubes in concentric circles when said turntable isrotated, each tippable tube receiving a bar magnet, a drawer positionedon the base plate and provided with tubular compartments removablyreceiving bar magnets, said turntable upon rotation moving the tippabletubes in concentric circles over the tubular compartments of the drawer,the tubular compartments of the drawer lying in the same concentriccircles as that of the tippable tubes, said means mounting each tube fortipping thereof in response to a magnet in said tippable tube comingproximate to a bar magnet of said drawer.

2. The device as set forth in claim 1, characterized in: that eachtippable tube loosely mounts a play piece, which play piece remains onthe tippable tube when the poles of the magnets in the tippable tubesfacing the poles of the magnets in the drawer compartment tubes are ofopposite polarity; the tubes being tipped if the poles of said magnetsare of like polarity, the play pieces being dislodged from the tippabletubes as the turntable rotates thereover.

3. The device as set forth in claim 2, characterized in: that motormeans is provided for the turntable to rotate the same.

4. A racing game board, including: a base plate, a turntable axiallysecured for rotation to said base plate, said turntable provided with asubstantially rectangular table, a series of tippable tubes secured tothe rectangular table adjacent edges thereof and at different radialdistances from the axis of said turntable, said tippable tubes receivingbar magnets, a series of drawers radial the turntable axis, secured tosaid base plate beneath said rectangular table, each drawer providedwith tubular compartments and the radial distance of said tubularcompartments and the radial distance of said different tippable tubesbeing the same whereby the turntable when rotating causes the tippabletubes to trace a series of concentric circular paths corresponding toconcentric circles through the compartment tubes of the drawers,magnetic means between said drawer compartments and tippable tubes fortipping certain of said tubes in response to certain of said drawercompartments coming into vertical proximity therewith.

5. The device of claim 4, and a circular trackway interconnecting thedrawers and means carried by the rectangular table for travel on saidtrackway to rotate the turntable.

6. The device of claim 4, characterized in: stop means is provided foreach tippable tube carried by the rectangular table whereby as thetippable tube passes over a drawer the stop means is actuated to preventthe tube from tipping until the tube has passed beyond the drawerwhereupon the stop means is out of contact with the tippable tube andthe tippable tube may be moved by the bar magnets in accordance with thepolarity thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,441,060 5/ 1948 Cunningham27386 3,336,695 8/1967 Warren 273-86 X FOREIGN PATENTS 195,316 3/ 1923Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner THOMAS ZACK, Assistant Examiner

